went lebron. lebron is so far ahead of anybody it is ridiculous. lebron plays all around and is among the league leaders of most major stats categories. i don't think it is impossible to imagine that if he wanted to lead the league in assists he could, points, anything except maybe blocks and boards. can play well 1-4 on either side of the ball. just insanely gifted athlete and all he wants to do is win. a big douchebag off the court but simply awesome on it.

went lebron. lebron is so far ahead of anybody it is ridiculous. lebron plays all around and is among the league leaders of most major stats categories. i don't think it is impossible to imagine that if he wanted to lead the league in assists he could, points, anything except maybe blocks and boards. can play well 1-4 on either side of the ball. just insanely gifted athlete and all he wants to do is win. a big douchebag off the court but simply awesome on it.

Mack North wrote:

LeBron. Cause of dominance. Funny how everyone is jumping back on the LeBron train these days...

Interesting, on the court he'll get you wins, but it will bring a lot of attention off the court, but this is all about results playing games.

I went with Kevin Durant basically because he is my favourite player in the league right now. He is only 23 years old I believe, and the guy is probably the best scorer in the league. He's loyal, humble, team-first, and does not bring trouble along with him that's for sure. Only after 5 seasons, going into his 6th, he is going to be in consideration for the MVP award every year, will be an all-star starter for years to come, and is only getting better. The thing that separated for me between Durant, and James is the off-court attitude and mentalities. Humble, team-first, loyal, and is loved by the league all-around.

Ideally a franchise player should be your leader as well, as is the case with most of the franchises. While Micheal Jordan and Kobe Bryant are perfect examples, in terms of talent they don't compare with Lebron James. Talent wise Lebron is my franchise player 'cause leadership is about having a positive influence on team mates and this person could be anyone, even a bench player.

Lets Lebron out. I can't say thast I have seen anything resembling leadership capability from Lebron. If MJ and Kobe are graduate, Lebron is in grade school.

When it comes to leadership, I think MJ and Kobe are far better than Lebron. If you haven't seen 'anything resembling leadership' from Lebron you're absolutely right. That being said, if I have to build a team around one player, my choice would be Lebron. As my post mentions, in my opinion a leader doesn't have to be the franchise player. He should be someone who has a positive influence on his team mates. Such a player could be anyone, even one coming off the bench. A name that come to mind is Charles Oakley, not that he came off the bench.

While Micheal Jordan and Kobe Bryant are perfect examples, in terms of talent they don't compare with Lebron James.

i agree with lebron being better then kobe is or ever was but jordan. jordan is gretzky-like on a basketball court. talent wise i think jordan is better than lebron. lebron is fantastically physically gifted and an amazing basketball player but i can't agree with saying you can't compare jordans talent with his.

i agree with lebron being better then kobe is or ever was but jordan. jordan is gretzky-like on a basketball court. talent wise i think jordan is better than lebron. lebron is fantastically physically gifted and an amazing basketball player but i can't agree with saying you can't compare jordans talent with his.

M Jordan is to Basketball what W Gretzky is to Hockey. This is an absolute fact and will remain so for a long time. In-fact he(Jordan) is my favorite too. By picking Lebron I'm speaking in relevance to this thread which is 'What player would you start your franchise with and why?'. I'm playing GM and looking out for the interest of my (fantasy) team. I know that Jordan would be the popular choice. My choice just happens to be Lebron.